Archive for October, 2017

Three months ago, I experimented with exclusivity with Amazon. In exchange for exclusivity, you get the ability to have your books in Kindle Unlimited for additional revenue. As a publisher, I decided to take the risk to see how it worked for me.

However, the results were less than stellar, and after a month, I found I was just counting down the days until I could get my books out of it.

One thing is sure: things have changed a lot on Amazon in the past two years. The competition is much fiercer, to the point where all my other retailers were practically matching my Amazon sales. Perhaps it wasn’t a great business decision, but you also never know something until you take a risk.

That, and every month I was in KU, the monthly payouts were getting lower. When the program started, they were much more reasonable, and just seeing the downward trend and the overcrowding of the marketplace makes me think going wide with my books is better than going tall.

Anyway, this is a post to let everyone know that you’ll find the Wasteland books anywhere they were before . . . iBooks, Google Play, Nook, Kobo, plus lots of others. Thanks for your patience!

It’s been a little over a week since Kingdom’s release, and hope everyone is enjoying it so far!

September was a pretty hectic month for me. As I’ve written on this blog, my fiancee and I moved to Florida so she could pursue a new career. Aside from a few hurricane-related hiccups, it has been wonderful so far. I love the seafood, the beaches, and am looking forward to winters where I can still wear shorts and flip flops.

With September out of the way, the main goal for October is to write like crazy. I’m about 25,000 words into Book 6 (about a quarter done with the first draft).

I’ve said several times that Xenoworld was going to be seven books, and that hasn’t changed. It’s a far cry from the three books I thought it would be when I first started, and yet here we are, and it’s hard to imagine it being any other way.

A lot has to happen in the space of two books, and I’m not entirely sure how the entire series will wrap up. At the end of Wasteland Chronicles, I definitely left things a little open, so that I could continue the tale four hundred years in the future. But since Xenoworld will be the last in the whole WC timeline, I really want it to be a good ending that wraps things up as best as I can.

My writing professor taught us that the most important part of finishing a novel was knowing how it ended. If you know how it ends, it’s easier to envision the landmarks that will act as way points guiding you to that ending. So, finding a suitable ending to the entire series is sort of my project. I know this book . . . currently untitled . . . will have to do everything possible to set things up for the last one, while not just being a “set up” book.

So far, progress has been encouraging. Without spoiling anything too much [stop reading this paragraph if you haven’t finished Kingdom], this novel will be the one where Shanti really starts to take control of things, starting to lead not just her crew, but hundreds and then thousands of people as she works to unite the Red Wild against Isaru and Shal. She has faced some disappointing setbacks and losses, but she’s picking herself up and is going punch back twice as hard.

I’m rereading the series again, trying to get an overall feel of everything (while trying not too wince too hard at some of the inconsistencies . . . I’ve been writing this series since late 2014, so I’ve mixed up a few details here and there). If there’s one thing everyone can agree on, Shanti has come a long way since the days the Hunters had her running scared, and now she’s getting to the point where she’s powerful enough not just to defend herself, but the entire world Anna came back to protect. It’s the part I’ve been most excited to write.

I’m very optimistic for the future of this work. I’m as happy as I’ve ever been with my lovely fiancee who is very encouraging and gives me a reason to do this, beyond my love for my craft or the need to pay bills. I’m very grateful to each and every one of my readers. My fan base isn’t exactly large, but it is very dedicated, and it gives me faith that I can keep doing this and makes me want to work hard to deliver you guys the best books I can.

I’m hoping to finish this one quickly . . . and certainly if I keep up this pace, it’ll be out before the year is over (don’t hold me to that!).